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Lawrie Robertson Unit 263/57 Gloucester Avenue Berwick Victoria 3806 16 July 2013 Consumer Affairs Victoria Regulation & Policy Division 121 Exhibition Street, Melbourne VIC 3001 By E-mail to [email protected] Greetings, Retirement Village Disclosure and Contract Regulations – Grief and Time to Vacate This submission draws on my personal experience living in a retirement village. It focuses on provisions in some occupancy and loan-lease contracts dealing with the death of the last surviving resident of a unit. It is my contention that some contract provisions do not allow a grieving family anywhere near adequate time to clear out a unit. My contract is silent on the question of time to vacate on death. The operator (20 villages in Victoria) has generally allowed residents with the same contract adequate time to clear the unit. However, the contract offered to new residents allows only 14 days. The operator has offered a new contract to existing residents. This contract allows 45 days, negotiated up from 14 days by the residents’ committee. It is my observation that typical families take somewhere between 60 days and 90 days to clear a unit. Some families start the clear-out almost immediately, but very few finish within 14 days. Others are reluctant, or unable (say, because they live interstate), to enter the unit for some time after the funeral and so the time taken is more likely to be at the upper end of the typical range. Some families take longer than 90 days. To best understand why it takes so long to clear out a unit, it is useful to think in terms of weekends. Two or three weekends pass while the family deals with the funeral and gets organised. Sorting out the items in the unit (e.g. items of sentimental value but of no monetary value, items of monetary value to be distributed in specie, items of monetary value to sell, items to give to a charity and items to take to the tip) and packing the smaller ones up takes another two or three weekends. Another two or three weekends can pass before the relevant parties turn up to take the items away. Add in further delays caused by extended grief, other family commitments or interstate family members and it is clear why typical families take between 60 and 90 days. The operator denies the time to vacate on death provisions of its contracts are harsh, and cites a willingness to respond favourably to reasonable requests for more time. This is of little value. Firstly, time to vacate is too important a matter for a “trust me” approach. Secondly, it is unlikely that many families will know of this unwritten ten-year old (say) promise. Moreover, the operator argues that it is in the best interest of the families to clear out the unit quickly. Yes, there could be financial advantages but it could also be that some families put a higher value on emotional matters. On the other hand, it is clear that the operator is almost always focussed on accessing revenue released on re-leasing units. Fourteen days to clear out a unit following the death of a family member is clearly unreasonable. Forty five days is better, but it puts the majority of families under pressure at a time when they could still be grieving. Ninety days will still put some families under pressure, but offers a more realistic balance between the needs of families and the needs of operators. It is my submission that the amended contractual arrangements regulations should protect families from the possibility that unscrupulous operators might apply pressure to clear out units by an unrealistic date. Perhaps the regulations might require operators to allow families a reasonable time (say 90 days) to clear out a unit, to not unreasonably deny a request for an extension of time and to give 14 days notice of any intention to exercise any right to remove private property from as unit. Yours faithfully Lawrie Robertson